


The Dedication

by Wallflowerx



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Writer Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2384774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallflowerx/pseuds/Wallflowerx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teacher AU! English Teacher!Zayn who teaches at a high school and absolutely adores his job and his flat is covered with books (a lot of poetry ones too) and he meets Harry, and as they're dating they reveal little secrets about one other and Zayn confesses that he always wanted to be a writer and Harry tells him he can do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dedication

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nononono (zaynsteenyknees)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaynsteenyknees/gifts).



Breathtaking, heartbreaking, awe-inspiring, these are just a few of the words that describe The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Green paints the story of a sixteen year old cancer patient named Hazel, who is trying to cope with her illness. She meets Augustus Waters one fateful day in Support Group and everything from that moment on seems almost preordained. They have a beautifully tragic romance; one that even though it ends in tears, one can't help but feel fulfilled by it. John Green offers a wary sense of humor and a realistic sense of purpose within this novel. It is a novel that if read, will stay with one forever, and that is why Zayn Malik was reading the medium length book over again, with a bucket of ice cream by his side. Sitting cross legged like a toddler on his huge mattress, the twenty six years old English teacher went on and on reading the book.

His room was in a bit of disarray, with all of his old and new books scattered everywhere; they were mostly poetry books and long novels that littered the floor and his desk, however, there were a few occasional short stories that graced upon his floor as well. Continuing from chapter fifteen in where Augustus and Hazel's family finally meet for dinner, Zayn sighed contently and continued to read, happy that nothing was disturbing his peaceful quietness. The only reason he had stopped was because of his pushy best friend. Well there goes his blissfully quietness.

Sighing dramatically; Louis picks the ice cream up and grabs the book. "I'm confiscating this." He said as he goes across the room and gets in the chair. Kicking his shoes off, Louis smiled as he heard Zayn coming after him, chuckling amused at his mate's angry little glare, Louis ate a spoonful of the ice cream.

Zayn huffs and tries to reach for the ice cream as his best friend lifts it out of his reach. "Stop it Louis, I bought the ice cream and book for myself and my brain, not for fat ass jerks that steal sweets from their emotional best friend!" He says still trying to reach for the ice cream and then just gives up and huffs "You are so lucky I'm too lazy, otherwise I would be kicking your ass."

"Come on Zayn. You have to teach in less than four hours. You can't just sit around like a bump on a long crying over books that are written for teenage girls all day! Get up and get dressed ´cause you, my friend, look like a right hobo right now."

"The Fault in Our Stars is fucking amazing. You are just angered because your brain can't wrap around the ingenious metaphors it possesses." Zayn said getting up and snatching the items from his best friend.

After a few minutes Louis has Zayn all dresses up sitting in front of a mirror as said boy works his hair. Zayn sighs a little and arranges the collar of his leather jacket, which was paired with a black shirt under it and some black jeans which were artistically ripped on the knee in the name of style. He styled his messy hair a bit, pushing it back, and it actually looks quite amazing. Once he was fully ready to go, Zayn and Louis both left the apartment going their separate ways.

Once arriving at the school, Zayn looks up at the imposing beige brick of Hale High School. He remembers so vividly standing in this very spot when he was a student here. Somehow the building is just as scary now as it was back then, he thought that ten years and a whole slew of life experience would make the place seem smaller. That's definitely not the case. Zayn is sweating even in the cool September breeze; he hitches his messenger bag higher up his shoulder and begins the walk to his new classroom. It's been so long and not much has changed about the place; the lockers, the same dull green color, even the smell is the same, industrial strength bleach doing little to cover the smell of hundreds of teenage bodies.

Zayn questions why he made the choice to come here. He knows why he's in Hale. Last year after his family separated Zayn had returned to settle their affairs, it was a long process, and afterwards, the idea of leaving this place was just more than he could deal with, it was like the only thing left of them was the echo of their presence in this town. Being here made him feel close to them in a way he knew he never would if he were to return to England. So, he'd quit his job, and is having a new house built about a mile away from the house where his family used to live in.

However Zayn didn't actually need to take a job here in Bradford, the insurance money, and the inheritance he was left more than assured he'd live comfortably for the rest of his life, but sitting in the apartment he was renting while the house was being finished, he felt himself going a little bit insane. So, he decided to take a part time teaching position at Hale High. It was the only thing even close to what his particular skill set would allow him to do. He'd been an art professor at a different University before, and while teaching the subject to a bunch of kids who likely couldn't care less about it seemed like a bit of a down grade, he figured it was the best option for him, at least for the time being. So here he stands, about to begin teaching classes about correct paragraph stanzas, and how to write four page essays to a bunch of disinterested 16 year olds. Zayn sighed before opening the door to his room and flicking on the lights.

Zayn sips his coffee from his thermos and pretends to be busy on his computer as he waits for the first bell to ring, he only has classes in the morning today and he is already eager to leave, he's never particularly enjoyed being in front of a group of people. He's particularly wary to get in front of a group of teenagers; teenagers are fucking scary.   
His first class goes about a well as can be expected, Zayn is as friendly as he ever is and quickly determines that not one student is taking this class because they actually want to be there. Zayn reminds himself frequently that nurturing young minds is an important, noble and thankless task; it doesn't make him like any of these kids any better.   
During his second period though, he almost gives up and walks out, he's so annoyed. This kid, as soon as he walks in the room, chatting animatedly with his friend with the floppy hair, Zayn knows he's going to annoy the shit out of him. Zayn sets his jaw and tries with all his might not to glare.   
He begins the class by discussing the syllabus, and doing some stupid introduction game. Zayn has his older students taking the AP level class, and they seem at least somewhat invested in the subject, it at least appears that they are listening to him when he talks; no one is obviously sleeping anyway.

Finally when the day came to an end, Zayn let out an exasperated sigh as he packed his things up. Deciding to go out and eat, the raven haired lad walked out of the building and to a nearby restaurant. Seeing a familiar place from his childhood, Zayn smiled and walked inside of Olivia's. Olivia's is a great little indie boutique cafe, with milkshakes that come in vintage glass bottles, and giant velvet prints of excerpts from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" complete with illustrations that hang in neat rows on every wall; baby blue chandeliers swing over every low-set, round table, and the booths on the left wall have plush blue seats that match the chandeliers. Strings of warm, welcoming white fairy lights drip down from the lavender ceiling above, hanging low as if to touch the booths. There's a plaster flamingo as tall as Zayn sitting next to the orders counter and wearing a moustache that's reminiscent of Poirot. The whole place is very quaint, because although there's a lot of stuff in the room, the room itself is barely big enough to accommodate all of it, and so everything is very close together.

It was very crowded in there, and Zayn was doubting a bit his chances of actually finding a seat. So he doesn't feel nearly as embarrassed as he normally does when Olivia's' equivalent of a door chime plays gently from the speaker above the door frame, when three others walk in with him. Zayn orders his food which was only a turkey sandwich, with a side of pineapples, and luckily he found a seat in the way back of the restaurant in one of those tables for two. He was just about to dive into his food, but quickly looked up as he felt a figure standing over the table.

"Hi...um, well there aren't any other seats here, so I was wondering If I could sit with you?"

Zayn looks up at the lengthy curly haired lad and examined him a bit. Taking in the stranger’s dark skinny jeans, and black and blue plaid shirt that wasn't buttoned up fully. Zayn looked back up and almost let out a loud laugh as his eyes finally took in the black fedora on top of the lad's head.

When curly gave him a look, Zayn then realized that he hasn't answered his question. Instead of actually talking like a normal person, Zayn quickly pointed to the chair and nodded, watching as curly let out a grateful sigh and takes the seat, Zayn then looked at the stranger´s plate that was filled with a head sized cookie, and a small cup of tea that smelt a bit like cinnamon. Reaching down in his bag for his book, Zayn tried to keep this little lunch as non-awkward as possible.

That seemed to be almost impossible though, giving the fact that curly kept staring at Zayn with those bright green eyes of his. Sighing Zayn put his book down a bit and looked up at Harry expectantly. "Yes?"

Watching as curly's eyes widened even more, Zayn couldn't help the amused laugh that tumbled out of his lips.

"I'm sorry...I was just...I mean, I was looking at the book cause I really liked the film." Curly said with a scarlet blush spreading across his dimpled cheeks. "I'm Harry by the way."

Deciding that the name fit curly's face, Zayn smiled and nodded in approval at the lad. "Hi cur-Harry, I'm Zayn."

After that short introduction, the two lads started talking about the book again. As the conversation changed into other subjects and topics the two just ate and laughed 'cause they don't have anything in common, not the taste in music and how Zayn likes staying at home and Harry prefers to go out. How Harry likes yoga and Zayn wouldn't do that in a million years. Also how Zayn loves drawing and painting and Harry couldn't even make a stick figure correctly. But at the same time it seemed like they instantly connect, like they could sit there talking to each other for ages even if they are total opposites. 

Zayn doesn't say anything, but moves over a bit to sit closer to the gangly boy. For a few moments, they just stared at each other before they both erupt into laughter, it echoed around the small space, and makes Zayn's legs feel warm and shaky. "We're ridiculous," he chuckles.

Harry nods. He gestures to the half of Zayn's body that can be seen above the table. "That Iron-Man shirt is absolutely amazing, by the way," he declares enthusiastically. "No one's allowed to have that kind of wit or awesomeness like he does."

Zayn doesn't really know how to answer to that, so he just smiles so hard his face hurts. "I am so glad you're a Marvel fan."

Harry laughs before shaking his head, feigning sadness. "How tragic would it be if one of us liked DC? We'd never be able to, y'know, talk or whatever."

They eat in comfortable silence for a while, glancing at each other every once every few moments and then catching the other looking and smiling around their mouthfuls. The turkey sandwich is probably the best Zayn's ever had, but it's gone far too soon, even though it lasts longer than Harry's cookie. They both order chocolate milkshakes and compare their glass bottles. Harry's is smooth, standing tall and straight, but Zayn's is squat and curvy with a pattern around the neck. They discuss their lives and their jobs and their friends and how attractive Tom Hiddleston was in Thor.

"Well..." Harry said, those green eyes wide with joy, his pupils are large because of the low lighting, and Zayn has a sudden flash of a thought that involves a very naked Harry with blown pupils squirming and whimpering under his careful, thorough touch. "I wanna - I mean, you, if you aren't? I really - I wanna do this again," Harry asserts.

"Me too," Zayn responds, and damn, Harry's resulting hopeful smile could make fucking flowers grow. Zayn wants to - needs to make Harry smile like that as often as possible, needs to feel his chest flutter in a way it hasn't since he dated Perrie back in high school. Harry is so beautiful and so eager and, at the same time, stubborn as a fucking mule and sharp-tongued and loud-mouthed and just so lovely, and it makes Zayn want to wrap him up in a tight embrace and never let go. After a few more minutes of just staring at each other, Harry says he has to leave. So the curly haired lad pulled a pen out that he conveniently had in his pocket, and wrote his number on Zayn's hand before leaving.

+

A few weeks passed and Harry and Zayn continued to meet up with each other. It first started with them going out to places like the café or another nice casual restaurant, it then later evolved into them going to Zayn's apartment and watching movies while cuddling a bit. Their feelings were unsaid, and Zayn didn't know if he wanted to keep it that way or not.

The two were currently sitting on the floor of Zayn's empty apartment, with a small bag of crisps and yogurt on the rug in front of them. They've been doing this thing that involves them sharing small and big secrets about themselves to the other; it ranged from Harry having the physical quality of four nipples, and Zayn's burning desire to become a successful writer. "You should totally do it Ze, I bet it'll be a massive hit!" Harry would say, but Zayn would always just shake that thought off.

"I have something....I haven’t told anyone this ever so don't laugh okay?" Harry said as he directed his attention to the grey carpet again. "Well...I have this fear of oblivion. I mean…None existence is really strange when you think about it, but then I just think that I won't be conscious of it at all....The thing that scares me about death is the peoples who I'm close to and not knowing when they die. Then there is the fact that I will never see or hear them ever again. That is what scares me about it. Then I think of if no one like…actually remembers me. And also if I die young, the idea of my families and friends lives going on without me is really strange and not in a self-centered way, just that things will happen and I will never know or be involved ever in any way ever again." Harry finished softly not really knowing what to do now that he let out something that deep.

Zayn just stared at the curly haired lad with a small fond smile on his face. Lifting his hand up, Zayn tilted Harry's chin back up so that said lad would look at him as well. "Well I'll defiantly remember you…that's a fact..." he said rubbing his thumb over Harrys cheek. "I have another secret I wanna tell you too...It makes me happier than anything when we talk, and I really want to kiss you more than anything."

Harry's face started to burn after that confession, resting his hand on Zayn's forearm he smiled and looked at Zayn's lips then back to his beautiful eyes. "Then do it..."

Bringing Harry's face down slightly, Zayn leaned in and lightly brushed their lips together. "Will do" He mumbled against said boy’s lips, before he closed the gap and kissed him. Keeping it sweet and slow, Zayn tilted his head a bit and smiled happily into the kiss, they both sigh happily into it and Harry shivered a little when Zayn suddenly had a grip on his waist, and deepened the kiss, and it may be cheesy but Harry really feels like he can start floating just with how good the kiss feels.

When they break the kiss Zayn rests his forehead against Harry's and it takes him some more seconds to open his eyes again. "You are amazing..." He says smiling, and before Harry could respond, Zayn has his lips pressed against his soft red ones again.

+

"As your boyfriend, I feel that it's is my job to tell you when you're overreacting." Zayn said as he watched Harry running around his apartment like a mad man. "I've been writing for three months without you knowing, and without all of this curly, I think I'm fine."

"Zayn this is a big deal! You're finally taking my wise advice and putting those wonderful talents of yours to use. You writing a book is definitely a big deal babe." Harry said as he rushed around the room to put various other items near the desk he had set up for Zayn. Harry was set on becoming Zayn's personal assistant through the rest of his process, even though Zayn was already more than half way done with the book, Harry still insisted that he helped his boyfriend.

Zayn just rolled his eyes and sat in the chair once Harry instructed him to, the curly lad had pulled out Zayn's desk from where it was positioned by the side of the wall, to the middle of the room; he had also, for some reason, bought one of those swivel chair things along with a lava lamp. "Alright so I'm gonna leave you to work, and if you need anything just call." Just as he was about to leave the room, Zayn smiled mischievously and called out his name.

"Well I could use a good motivational blowjob." Zayn said, and let out a loud laugh when Harry simply rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. 

Turning to the laptop on the desk, that was also known as his coffee table, Zayn sighed an dopened up his documents going to the story. Scrolling down to chapter six out of the twenty four he wanted to do, the raven haired lad quickly went to work thinking of different turns and twist he wanted the main character to endure.

+

"I still don't understand why I have to read the whole damn book until I can see my surprise, Zayn. Can't you just give me the surprise first? I'm gonna read the book either way." Harry said huffing a bit, but couldn't help the fond expression he has on his face.

"Just read the book, and then you can get your surprise. When you get to the last chapter call me, alright?" Zayn said as he set up a little chair for his boyfriend of now 2 years.

Harry rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time. "Alright." The final manuscript wasn't that thick, but it wasn't a short story either. Sitting down, Harry let out a small sigh as he put the banded up papers on his lap, looking back up a Zayn, Harry smiled and then went back to the book. Carefully flipping the cover page, Harry smiled when he saw Zayn's name written in bold Times New Roman, a wave of pride washed over him as he skipped the table of contents, and went to the first chapter. Reading over Zayn's words, Harry couldn't help but smile because he actually did it, his Zayn finally finished his masterpiece, the piece Harry had to constantly encourage him to do. Just the thought of that made him all happy inside.

He was currently on the last chapter of about two and a half hours of reading the book. Zayn had been making himself busy in the kitchen, probably making a mess of the snacks they had brought while shopping the other day. He was almost done with the chapter now, so he thought it was be a good time to call Zayn in. When his boyfriend entered the living room once again, Harry smiled and continued to read over the last chapter.   
Once the chapter was over, Harry sighed happily and looked up at Zayn.

"Can I have my surprise now? The suspense is killing me." Harry whined out as he become a bit impatient with all of the waiting nonsense.

"Read the dedication."

Harry huffed but did as told.

'To my loving husband, I love you with all my heart. We've been with each other for years and my love for you grows more each year. You are a beautiful and caring person and have always been there for me one hundred percent through the bad times. My family adores you and I cannot imagine my life without you in it.' 

By the end of reading the dedication, Harry had tears in his eyes that he couldn't help from letting them fall. Then, in red pen on the bottom of the page, was Zayn's messy handwriting that read 'Will You Marry Me?' Looking up at Zayn, Harry gasped and let the manuscript fall to the ground as he clapped his hands over his mouth.  
"Oh my gosh! Z-zayn..?"

Zayn was on one knee already, with a sparkling gold band presented beautifully in a small black leather box.

"Harry I love you, and I'm ready to spend the rest of my life with you. It would mean the world if you agree to take my hand in marriage, so please say yes." Zayn said softly waiting for his boyfriend's reaction.

"I...I…Hell yes Zayn!" Harry said before tackling Zayn to the ground in a warm tight embrace. "I've been waiting for this day, and…and I didn't expect to be so soon, but thank you for making me the happiest man alive." Leaving soft feather light kisses all over Zayn's face, Harry smiles and didn't care that his tears were falling freely on his now fiancé's face.

"Well good, because it would have been really embarrassing if you said no." Zayn said as he held Harry's face in his hands, pushing his curly haired lover back a bit so he could speak. "Now let me put the ring on your finger. Then we can celebrate."

Harry smiled and nodded quickly, presenting his left hand to Zayn, he bites his lip and let out a content sigh as Zayn finally slid the ring onto his ring finger. "It's beautiful, thank you." he said and leaned down to leave another kiss, but this time on Zayn's lips. "Now let's go 'celebrate'. I'm really looking forward to making love now that we're an engaged couple."

Zayn simply just smiled and placed a soft kiss to Harry's forehead. "Anything for you, curly."


End file.
